


Knots in Time

by SpaceTimeConundrum



Series: Any Universe [3]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Pete's World, Timey-Wimey, Wedding Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-14
Updated: 2015-02-14
Packaged: 2018-03-12 04:59:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3344471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceTimeConundrum/pseuds/SpaceTimeConundrum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nothing has ever been easy or gone perfectly to plan in Rose and the Metacrisis!Doctor's relationship so far, why would their wedding day be any different? An adventure in time, space, and true love in four parts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In Which Our Heroes Attempt To Tie The Knot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back when I first started writing fan fiction a couple years ago, I wrote this short and sweet tale about Rose and her part-human Doctor's wedding-day adventure in the Pete's World Universe. I realised that for some reason I hadn't archived it over here on AO3, and seeing as it's Valentine's Day, I thought I might clean it up a bit and share some lighthearted romance with you all today.

He was loathe to admit it, but the Doctor felt he might actually be getting nervous now.

Thus far he'd managed to cultivate an air of Time Lord stoicism regarding his impending nuptials but as the moment approached, cracks had begun to form in his confidence with alarming frequency. It was one thing to say that this was merely a formality, the public and legal recognition of a _fact of the universe_ : that the Doctor and Rose Tyler were a team, Shiver and Shake etc, and would be together for their respective forevers. It was quite another thing to be actually standing at the front of a crowded room, filled with their family and friends, awaiting the appearance of the woman who crossed universes to find you. The Doctor tried not to wiggle too obviously as he wiped his sweating palms on his tuxedo.

Getting married hadn't been his idea in the first place. The Doctor generally assumed that he and Rose were just fine as they were, thank you, and no ceremony was going to change how much he loved her. He was, after all, generally rubbish at weddings anyway, especially his own. Rose certainly hadn't said anything to him about marriage either; it seemed like such an odd concept given the complexity of their relationship, to do something so normal, so domestic, as marriage. It was Jackie that prompted him in the end.

When he thought about it, he had to admit it must've been a remarkable feat of restraint for Jackie to hold off as long as she did before starting to drop hints. She'd waited patiently for about a year to allow time for Rose and the Doctor to settle in to life in Pete's World and into each other's lives again. Then, when her repeated _subtle suggestions_ went largely ignored by the oblivious Doctor, she'd opted instead for the 'overt as hell' approach.

She'd pulled him aside one evening after he and Rose had joined the Tylers for a quiet Sunday family dinner. Well, quiet for the Tyler household, which at the time contained not only a part-human Time Lord with a bit of a gob, but Jackie Tyler and her equally talkative five year old son. So, really not very quiet at all actually. She pointed out to him that he and Rose had been living together for over two years and it was about time he "got his skinny alien arse in gear and made an honest woman of [her] Rose." Jackie Tyler being the formidable force that she is, the Doctor knew better than to do anything other than nod sheepishly and go home to contemplate the daunting prospect of a proposal.

When he actually considered it logically, marrying Rose made sense. They'd already promised to grow old together, why not make things official? A small voice in the back of his head reminded him that the answer to 'why not?' was, of course, that there was absolutely no chance that Jackie would be content to let them have a small, private ceremony in a registrar's office. Nor, he imagined, would a simple Gallifreyan marriage rite suffice in her eyes. Getting married meant putting himself at the mercy of a woman with strong opinions on nearly everything, rather questionable taste, and the resources to see that her whims were obeyed. Still, he was the Oncoming Storm, after all. He could handle one day of posh clothing and photos. Probably.

He'd tried to come up with a suitably romantic gesture to accompany the ring he'd bought, but couldn't make up his mind. Humans attached such particular significance to the proposal, which had always baffled him. If you were going to spend the rest of your lives together, why should it matter how you asked a question? He'd been married enough times (accidentally and on purpose) that he had a pretty good idea by now what was and wasn't important when it came to having a happy marriage.

In the end, it just sort of slipped out.

They'd both been in the field all day on a case for Torchwood, trying to resolve what amounted to a parking dispute between two alien visitors, neither of whom had clearance to be on the planet at the time, but that was another matter. This was actually a fairly unusual assignment. He'd been removed from the active field duty rotation after one too many incidents ended with himself or others in hospital due to his inability to avoid trouble. Now, he usually spent his days tinkering and cataloguing in the Research and Development wing, but given his centuries of knowledge, the Doctor was occasionally called upon to serve as a translator when the language bank files fell short. Tired and hungry afterward, he and Rose had grabbed Thai take away and headed straight home in comfortable silence.

As they sat cross-legged in front of the telly, shoveling hot noodles into their mouths as fast as they could, their eyes met and they both dissolved in giggly exhaustion. They ended up curled in each other's arms, half on and half off the sofa, when the Doctor looked at her and thought, _this is perfect_. In the flicking light of the television, her eyes were bright as she grinned at him and he spoke without thinking.

"Marry me."

She laughed in surprise but stopped when he didn't blink or look away. "Wh-what?" was all she managed.

The Doctor rolled over and sat up to look at her properly. "I love you, Rose Tyler. Marry me."

She looked at him with a mixture of disbelief, confusion, and amusement. Before she could reply, it occurred to him that he was forgetting something vital and held up a finger while he searched his pockets for the ring. Triumphant, he withdrew the small velvet box from his trousers with a flourish and held it out to her. With some trepidation, she opened it to reveal a beautiful sapphire ring, the perfect shade of TARDIS blue, and gasped.

Rose pulled him over to her with a tug on his necktie to deliver one hell of a snog. It wasn't until an hour later, when they lay tangled in the bed sheets, basking in a delicious afterglow, that it occurred to him that she hadn't actually answered his question. Grinning, he looked over at her and absent-mindedly intertwined his fingers with her left hand, which was now wearing the sapphire ring.

"So, that was a yes?" he asked and she tossed a pillow at him.

The memory of that night had kept him distracted long enough to root him in place until the music started and the crowd turned in their seats in anticipation. The Doctor shuffled his trainer-clad feet nervously on the grass and licked his lips. Any moment now.

He was proud of himself for staying put and resisting the urge to run to grab Rose's hand and flee the premises. This didn't stop him fantasizing about doing so though. In his mind's eye, they gave everyone a jaunty wave goodbye before hopping aboard their shiny new TARDIS. It was a shame that they still had at least another five years before their girl would be ready to fly.

The music shifted again and the guests stood as Rose appeared arm in arm with Pete. This was it. The Doctor straightened and felt a silly grin slide on to his face as he made eye contact with his favorite person in the universe. She looked amazing, his pink and yellow human, faintly shimmery gown seeming to float around her as she walked towards him. She turned her head to share an excited smile with her father before returning the Doctor's gaze again shyly. He could feel the all hairs on his body lift slightly as she neared the end of the aisle.

That probably should've been his first clue.

The Doctor was too entranced by his bride for it to register that her dress probably shouldn't have been quite that floaty, come to think of it. Nor should the hair on everyone's heads been sticking up like that. It wasn't until the charge in the air was almost palpably thick that he realised something was amiss. But by then it was too late.

There was a sharp "CRACK", a brilliant flash, and the scent of ozone in the air. The Doctor stood stupefied, part-Time Lord senses tingling, staring at the empty space where Rose had been standing.

"What?"

He blinked. "What!"

The guests looked as shocked as he was. But they weren't left staring with him for long; they were interrupted by a distinctly curious wheezing sound. The Doctor's eyes raised in disbelief in time to see a very familiar, very _blue_ police box appear at the back.

" _What?_ "


	2. The Importance of Pockets

Blinking, Rose suddenly found herself standing in a small, empty room in her wedding dress. Her head felt as though someone unkind had taken a hammer to it recently. What the hell had happened?

It figured that she couldn't manage to _walk down the aisle_ without something inexplicable happening to throw a spanner in the works. Fortunately, after years of travel with the Doctor and working for Torchwood, this sort of thing didn't exactly surprise her anymore. Time to assess the situation and get out of here. She had other plans today.

She looked around her. The room was perhaps just long enough to lie down in and had smooth, white walls that glowed softly. Listening, she could hear the distant hum of engines. A space station or ship then. She couldn't see anything like a door though, just a green panel on the wall in front of her.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

She stepped forward to get a better look at the panel. When she touched it, the panel glowed brightly and foreign symbols started scrolling before her eyes. One or two seemed familiar but without the TARDIS translation circuits in her head anymore, she couldn't read them. Frowning, she glanced around again, this time spotting a black oval on the ceiling that could be a viewing port. Was she being watched? It would make sense. She directed her next comments upwards.

"I know you must be able to hear me. What do you want? Why have you brought me here?"

Silence. Fine. They wanted to play it that way? Rose dug through her skirt until she found the hidden pocket she'd had sewn into the dress. Her mother had protested, telling her it was her wedding gown, why would she want to risk spoiling the lines of the skirt with pockets? What could she possibly need to be carrying anyway? Rose was glad she'd insisted. Grinning, she pulled out the two items she never left home without: her Torchwood communicator and the sonic screwdriver the Doctor had made for her as a surprise when he'd recreated his own.

Turning on the communicator, she wasn't exactly surprised to find it was out of range of the Torchwood network. Brilliant. She keyed in the code for the 'Agent in Distress' locator beacon and was rewarded for her efforts by the lights in the room flashing green and a mechanical voice announcing what could only be some sort of warning or displeasure at her actions.

"Didn't like that, did you?" She grinned up at the ceiling, tongue between her teeth. "Just wait for my next trick."

Pocketing the communicator, Rose dialed up setting 380 on the sonic and started scanning the walls of her prison. She got in here somehow, there must be a way out. Aha! There was a mechanism located underneath the wall opposite the panel; the whole thing must shift to open. Thank goodness, she had been a bit worried that she'd have to figure out how to hotwire a transmat system.

The mechanical warning voice kept blaring, seeming to shift between languages, perhaps in an effort to find one she understood. Whoever had taken her, they obviously hadn't done their homework. She adjusted the settings on her sonic and aimed it at the wall mechanism. She heard a 'thunk' and the wall slid down into the floor with a satisfying sound.

"Ha! Well, it's been fun, but I've got to run." She announced cheerily and dashed out before her captors could trigger an override and shut her in again.

She found herself in a narrow corridor lined with what appeared to be several other chambers like the one she'd just left, the outlines of the doors just barely visible. Definitely some sort of prison or brig then. Green lights flashed from the walls. Her exit had not exactly gone unnoticed.

The disembodied voice addressed her in the corridor as well. It switched languages again and this time she understood most of it; the mechanical accent was terrible, but she was pretty sure it was speaking a version of Galactic Universal. 

" _Prisoner will return to containment unit. Prisoner will cease escape activity._ "

"Prisoner will do no such thing!" She shouted up at it as she made for the end of the corridor.

The sonic made quick work of another door and opened to reveal another corridor. This one was larger and curved away mostly perpendicular to the one she'd exited. It also featured a rather excellent view; windows ran the length of it as far as she could see. The ship was in orbit around a planet she didn't recognize; clouds swirling over unfamiliar green continents and a crescent shaped ocean.

She didn't have time to marvel at the scene though, it wouldn't be long before her captors came running. She had to find somewhere safe to hide, figure out where she was and find a way to get a message back to the Doctor. He must be worried sick. Oh no. The Doctor! They hadn't taken him too, had they? No. His communicator signal would've registered on her own if he'd been in range when she'd checked it.

That reminded her though, she should probably shut off the distress signal if she intended to hide. It wouldn't do her much good if her captors used it to track her down. With a grimace, she switched it to passive mode. It would buzz if another Torchwood signal pinged it, looking for her.

Now, which way? Shrugging internally, Rose headed left. And nearly stumbled into a dozen well-armed aliens as she rounded the bend. She heard a shout of surprise from behind her as she fled in the opposite direction as quickly as her dress-encumbered legs would carry her.

"Narfong reblit! Sirf t'show!" Rose assumed this roughly translated to 'get her' but couldn't be sure.

She was fairly certain they were a species she'd never encountered before. She tended to remember things like eight foot purple amphibians carrying guns. What could they possibly want with her that they kidnapped her from her wedding? Usually she and the Doctor had to do something before they annoyed the natives enough to end up running for their lives. She wasn't _that_ jeopardy friendly.

Spotting another door, Rose decided to chance it and sonicked it open, darting inside just before her pursuers came into view again. She scrambled the locking mechanism, hoping to buy herself a little more time. There had better be another way out of this room.

Panting to catch her breath, she looked around. It was filled with large rounded cubes, probably storage pods. Her eyes caught another, larger wall panel across the room. Maybe she could access the computer system from it.

The Doctor always made it look so easy. Hacking an alien ship's computer was a hell of a lot harder when you couldn't understand anything written on the screen. She tapped at random symbols in frustration until she found something that resembled a map diagram. It would appear she was on a ship shaped somewhat like a wagon wheel with spokes connecting concentric rings. If she assumed the room highlighted in green was her current location, she had no idea where to go next.

Sighing, she snapped a photo of the map with her communicator's camera. Just in case. Time to try a different approach. She'd just have to _ask_ someone. Very domestic, the Doctor would approve.

Hiding her sonic and communicator in her dress, Rose stepped out into the corridor again and walked casually in search of her pursuers, heart pounding in her chest. _Act like you're not afraid, and maybe they'll believe it_ , she told herself. Finally spotting them up ahead, she stopped and called to get their attention.

"Oi! You lot, I'm over here!"

Shiny purple heads turned in unison, the aliens gaping at her brazen reappearance. They trained their weapons at her and approached cautiously, wary that her sudden confidence meant she was playing some sort of trick. Rose held up her hands, showing them that she isn't carrying anything.

"Narfong reb'tish. Narfong krasow?" one of them addressed her. He - or she? - was wearing a slightly different uniform than the others, probably the leader.

Rose shook her head. "I can't understand you. Can you speak English? _Universal?_ " she tries, hoping her accent is intelligible; it'd been a while since she'd had to use it.

The leader blinked in what Rose hoped was recognition and replied in somewhat halting Universal, " _we can speak Universal if you require. Have you suffered damage to your cognition organ since we last met? You did not experience difficulty communicating then, Bad Wolf._ "

Rose's eyes widened at this revelation. How did it know her? " _You're wrong. We've never met._ "

At this, the aliens behind the leader seemed startled and started chattering to each other in their native language until their leader silenced them with a look. It turned back to stare at Rose again.

" _Do not speak untruths. We have searched many years to find you, Wolf. You have taken something of ours. You will return it or we will destroy your mate._ "

At the mention of the Doctor, Rose's eyes darkened dangerously. " _What have you done with him?_ "

" _Nothing yet. Your mate remains back on that primitive planet you call home. That can easily change though._ " The alien leader's tone, difficult to discern given the linguistic and species differences, nonetheless seemed threatening.

Rose took a breath; she had no idea what it was she had supposedly taken, but at least the Doctor wasn't being held captive. " _I don't know what you're talking about. I can't give you what I don't have. I am not the person you are looking for._ "

The alien leader stepped forward and was about to speak again when they were interrupted by the arrival of another creature, this one wearing a similar uniform to the soldiers, but carrying only a small electronic device. It held a hushed conversation with the leader that involved a lot of gesturing in Rose's direction. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

The leader finally dismissed the messenger and turned back to face Rose. " _There has been an error. You are not the Bad Wolf we require. You will be transported and released. We will meet again, Wolf._ "

With a wave of its hand, the alien leader turned and walked away with most of the soldiers. Three of them remained and stepped forward, grabbing the utterly baffled Rose and dragging her with them.

" _What? I don't understand. Transported where? Take me back to Earth!_ " Frantic, Rose struggled against her escorts.

They were too strong though and eventually she gave up her thrashing about to conserve her energy and pay attention to where they were taking her. She was shoved roughly into a narrow chamber about the size of one of the shower stalls in Torchwood's gym. One of the guards said something that sounded suspiciously like the Universal word for 'luck' and touched the green panel next to the chamber. Before Rose could protest, she felt the charge building in the air around her and in the next moment was standing not, as she'd hoped, back at her wedding, but at the edge of a dense alien forest, light years from home.


	3. Don't Fear The Reapers

Cursing the fanciful impulse that led her to select such a ridiculous dress and the alien kidnappers that had dumped her on this planet in said dress, Rose was not amused. She was supposed to be spending the evening celebrating with her friends and family, new husband on her arm, not trudging her way through an alien forest filled with who-knows-what. She'd headed towards the break in the tree line that she could see up ahead, but the terrain was rough and muddy. Her mood was not improved when a portion of her lovely diaphanous skirt caught on a branch, tearing and sending her tumbling into the muck. If she ever did see those aliens again, she vowed, it would be to personally deliver the string of expletives she was working on right now.

Grimacing, she picked herself up and began extricating herself from the wet tangle of mud and chiffon wrapped around her legs. At this point, the damage to the dress was done, so she hardly needed to be gentle. When she'd finished, a good third of her skirt had been removed; what remained hung in shreds, but at least she had enough ground clearance now to avoid further snags. Her mum was going to be furious.

At least she'd remembered Rule Number One for life with the Doctor - wear shoes you can run in. (It was not, as he'd tried to claim on more than one occasion, 'don't wander off.' Staying put more often than not got you into as much trouble as wandering did, at least in her experience.) There had been another fight with her mother about her choice of footwear, but Rose had ended that one when she'd pointed out that with the dress she'd chosen it wasn't like anyone would even see her shoes. In fact, she'd picked them deliberately to make the one person who she knew _would_ see them smile; off-white Converse had practically been the Doctor's signature since he'd regenerated. _They're not white anymore_ , she thought glumly as she continued onward through the forest.

Just as she reached the edge of the dense vegetation, Rose felt something buzz against her hip. Hope surged through her; that was her communicator! Excitedly, she retrieved the device from her pocket and fumbled with the keys to bring up the tracker. Whoever had just pinged its sensors had a Torchwood authorization code and wasn't that far away but she didn't recognize the signature code as anyone she knew. She had no idea how anyone from Torchwood could even get out here that quickly. The nearest star system to Earth with planets that had a breathable atmosphere was many, many light years away. Maybe the Doctor had called in a few favors with some of the alien contacts they'd made over the years. Maybe a certain someone had finally checked his messages and shown up to the wedding after all.

She supposed it didn't much matter who it was, as long as they could get her back home to Earth. She flipped the distress beacon back on active and headed towards the other Torchwood signal. It brought her to the top of what she thought was just a hill that revealed itself to be much higher and steeper on the other side. But that wasn't what made her gasp when she got there; spread out below her, she found a bustling city surrounding a large spaceport swarming with all manner of ships. Perhaps one of them was the source of the mysterious Torchwood signal she'd been following.

Picking her way carefully down the hill took longer than she wanted. She kept glancing nervously at the screen of her communicator to reassure herself that she hadn't lost contact with her target. She couldn't tell if the other person was deliberately headed towards her, but it did seem to be getting closer, in a meandering sort of way. She'd tried to send a voice message more than once but something was preventing it from linking up properly. She considered using her sonic screwdriver on it to see if she could solve the problem but decided not to risk breaking it further, especially since she had a whole city to search now.

Once she'd made her way onto the streets, Rose garnered more than a few curious looks from the various people she passed. The sight of a human wasn't a common occurrence in this part of the galaxy yet, so she didn't blame them. There seemed to be a robust selection of species represented in the city though, many of them vaguely humanoid, enough that her presence was merely unusual, not alarming. Mentally she crossed her fingers that she'd be able to spot the Torchwood agent in the crowds; the signal tracker on her communicator was not especially precise.

She entered what could only be described as a 'touristy' marketplace. The crowds here were even worse and shops lined the streets, filled to the brim with alien goods and multi-species shoppers. Signs around her were written in both Universal and what she assumed was the native language, proclaiming their wares to be the best available in twenty systems. The signal was coming from somewhere very nearby. Rose turned slowly, watching the blinking target on her communicator, trying to pinpoint which direction to head next.

She was so focused on the device in front of her that it almost didn't register when a voice behind her shouted something in English. Blinking, she turned around to find a slim human girl with wild brown hair wearing an incredibly long striped scarf running towards her. Upon seeing her face, the girl shouted again, "Mum!"

Rose stood frozen in shock and confusion as the girl came up to her, babbling in a cheerful, comfortable way. "You won't believe what I found in this store! Dad said I should ask you first if I can get it. Don't say no yet, just wait till you see it. What's with the clothes, Mum? What happened to you? I thought you were going to stay back at the... uh oh." She stopped short, biting her lip, finally realising something was amiss with Rose's reaction to her.

Rose stared at her, struggling to think of something to say as the pieces slowly came together in her mind. The girl had a soft London accent and her mannerisms felt so like someone she knew, it was unsettling. It wasn't until she looked down and noticed the scuffed blue Converse trainers that it finally clicked. _She couldn't be._

As if to confirm her suspicions, a familiar voice called out and Rose looked up from what could only be her _daughter_ to see the Doctor come jogging around the corner.

"Jane! How many times have I told you not to wander off? If you're not going to listen then you can go back to wait in the Tar-" He paused mid-sentence when he saw who she was standing next to. "-dis. Hello, Rose."

It had already been an extremely long day and Rose had been ready to deal with many things, but she wasn't quite prepared for this. This Doctor was older, clearly. His gorgeous brown hair shot with silver but still as unruly as ever. He wore a navy blue peacoat over a faintly pinstriped chocolate brown suit with his usual trainers and a light blue t-shirt. It looked like it'd been a while since he'd bothered to shave; much of his face was covered in scruff, sort of coppery in the sunlight. She wasn't sure how she felt about the beard, it would take some getting used to.

Motion caught her eye and Rose noticed that behind the Doctor stood a young boy in a hooded jumper. He looked so much like her little brother Tony that it took her breath away. Well, her brother if he'd been slightly older and had a messy head of red hair styled just like her Doctor's.

Mouth gaping a bit like a fish, Rose finally managed to squeak out a response. "Doctor."

He smiled and approached her slowly. "Jane, take your brother and have a look at the Illurian light paintings over there while I speak with your mother for a bit."

With obvious reluctance Jane shuffled over to her brother and led him away as instructed. Her frown made it clear that it was no fun being sent off when things got really interesting.

The Doctor took hold of Rose's hand carefully. "I suppose an explanation is in order. Well... at least as much of one as I can safely give you, I suppose. Rather not risk a paradox here."

Rose swallowed and asked, "where am I then? Can I know that?"

The Doctor looked pensive. "Which 'you' do you mean? I don't know if..."

She interrupted him. "This planet, what's it called?"

"I don't know if I should tell you that. Really, the less you know about your future, the better. Blimey, I knew this day was coming for years, you'd think I'd have thought of what to say by now." He ran a hand through his hair, mussing it further.

Rose raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you at least going to give me a lift home? I'm late for something rather important, you know." She gestured to her ruined wedding gown.

At this he laughed, "of course! Can't leave myself waiting at the altar, can I?"

This was possibly the last straw of absurdity for Rose and she found herself giggling uncontrollably along with him. After they'd both calmed somewhat, he pulled her into a warm hug and whispered in her ear, "don't worry. I'll have you back before anyone knows what happened."

"I'm just going to call my Rose to warn her, and then we'll head back to the TARDIS. I know you know this, but do be careful not to touch her when we get there." He pushed back his sleeve to press a few buttons and speak into a small communicator device on his wrist. It reminded Rose of the one Jack always wore.

Rose found her thoughts swirling again. _Children._ She and the Doctor had two children. It had never even occurred to her that such a thing would be possible. They'd always taken precautions out of habit mostly. The Doctor might be part human now, but what exactly that translated to in terms of genetics was still murky since he'd resisted Torchwood's offers to examine him. And with her job, Rose had never even considered whether she wanted to be a mum someday. Being suddenly confronted with the temporal inevitability of motherhood was a bit overwhelming.

She studied them from afar, trying to spot the similarities to herself and the Doctor in them. Jane was very clearly her father's daughter; they shared the same wiry build, animated gestures, and marvelous hair. Her nose was the only feature Rose could clearly trace back to herself. Her son seemed quieter; he was carefully inspecting the paintings in front of him while his sister talked behind him. She marveled at his red hair. That must be Donna's contribution to the family gene pool. She could only imagine what the Doctor's response had been when his son was born ginger. A mixture of joy and envy, she was sure.

She looked back to the Doctor to find him frowning at his communicator. "What's wrong?"

"You're... _she's_ not in the TARDIS; I can't trace her signal either. And she's not replying to me." He looked worried.

His words brought Rose's mind back to her recent encounter with wedding-disrupting alien kidnappers. "Oh no! They said I _wasn't the Bad Wolf they were looking for..._ "

The color drained from the Doctor's face as he came to the same conclusion she had. He recovered quickly though, steely determination hardening his features as he looked at her. "You - she - told me that you were kidnapped and brought onboard a ship in orbit. What can you tell me about where you were held? Anything that might help me figure out where to land."

Rose thought for a moment and then brightened when she remembered. "I can do better than tell you. I can show you the map!" She pulled up the photo she'd taken on the ship of the panel schematic. "The prisoner cells were here," she pointed.

The Doctor took the communicator from her and grinned. "Come on! No one kidnaps my Rose twice in the same day!" He broke into a run, waving to the children to join them as they hurried back to the TARDIS. Fortunately, it wasn't parked too far away. The Doctor pushed the familiar blue police box door open for them and Rose dashed inside without pausing to consider why the baby time machine looked exactly like its mother.

Well, at least it did on the outside. Once inside, Rose stumbled to a halt, taking in the control room. It was perhaps a bit smaller than the one she was used to, but nonetheless impressive. The walls were light blue, dotted with round amber lights in a similar honeycomb pattern to the old TARDIS. Everything was cleaner, but still felt comfortable and homey to her. A glass floor surrounded the central console and she noticed this new TARDIS featured more seating for her passengers than the original as her son hopped up on one of the seats to watch his father and older sister dash around, setting coordinates. She set her hand against a wall and felt the friendly hum of a response in her mind.

"Hello, little girl," she whispered.

She had to use that hand to steady herself as the young TARDIS lurched under her feet, headed to intercept the alien ship that held her kidnappers and hopefully her future self.

With one continuous motion, the Doctor shrugged off his coat, tossed it over a nearby railing, and pulled his sonic out of his jacket pocket as he marched towards the door. "Allons-y!"

He opened the door to reveal the very same corridor where Rose had faced down her alien kidnappers earlier that day. The green alarm lights had been replaced with the far more serious mauve though, and Rose found she could understand the mechanical announcer this time as though it were transmitting in English. _Thank you, TARDIS._ They were just about to step out to investigate when Rose witnessed her future self come barreling around the corner, headed right for them, pursued by blaster fire.

Future Rose was dressed in dark jeans and trainers with a worn leather jacket. She wore a wrist comm like the Doctor's and clutched her sonic in her hand as she ran into the ship, grinning. Rose stepped back to avoid accidentally making contact and bringing Reapers down on them. That would be the last thing they needed today.

"Brilliant timing as usual, Doctor!" Future Rose pulled him in for a kiss after they closed the doors behind her in a hurry. "Well," she amended, "it helps that I knew you were coming." With that, she nodded to her past self, standing awkwardly to the side in her shredded dress.

In a brief moment of vanity, Rose noted that her future self had aged well; still slim with slightly darker blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. The two Tyler women eyed each other curiously for a few seconds before Future Rose blinked and turned to the Doctor.

"We should leave. I may have set the charges on their long distance transmat system on a bit of a short fuse."

The Doctor released Rose and jumped over to the console where their children stood, staring wide-eyed at the two versions of their mother. "Right. We've got a wedding to crash!"


	4. Timey Whimey Wedding

The Doctor's driving had obviously not improved much over the years, as the TARDIS materialized back on Earth with a lurch, sending most of its occupants sprawling to the floor. The Doctor pulled himself upright on the console and adjusted the view screen to verify that they'd landed in the right place.

"Ha! You've been gone all of fifteen seconds! Molto Bene!"

Pulling herself to her feet quickly, Rose headed directly for the doors but paused before opening them to look back at her future family. Future Rose had moved to take her place at the Doctor's side, one arm wrapped around her son's shoulders. Her daughter Jane was grinning with excitement at witnessing a piece of her parents' life before she'd been born.

"I..." Rose began. "I have no idea what to say. Thank you for taking me home. I suppose I've got a lot more to look forward to than I realised." Future Rose smiled back at her knowingly and gave her son an affectionate squeeze. Rose fumbled a bit with her hands, trying to think of anything else she ought to do before departing.

"Go on," urged the Doctor, tossing her communicator back to her, "you're going to kill my poor past self with anticipation if you don't leave this TARDIS and marry me right now." He winked at Future Rose as he said this.

With a mournful glance at the state of her gown as she pocketed the device, Rose took a deep breath and opened the door.

\-----

The Doctor had just enough time to process the thought that he was looking at the TARDIS and this might mean something very, very bad had happened to the walls between universes when the door opened. Out stepped his Rose, hair and dress in shambles, plastered with mud. He didn't care. She was back.

They locked eyes and ran straight for each other, meeting in the middle of the aisle in a passionate embrace. He held her tightly, still not entirely sure she was real, and searched her face for answers.

"How? What? You just... Where'd you go? Whose TARDIS is that?" He babbled somewhat incoherently as the blue ship faded away again nearly as swiftly as it had arrived.

Rose silenced him with a finger pressed against his lips and said, "it's a long story Doctor, and I'll tell you everything I can, but first, I believe we were in the middle of something, no?"

The Doctor looked around them, noticing for the first time since the TARDIS had reappeared, that they were being watched with equal measures of relief and confusion by all of their friends and family. Pete stood off to one side next to Jackie and Tony with a dazed expression on his face.

"Right." The Doctor cleared his throat. He took Rose's hand and slipped it around his arm, leading her up to where their bewildered officiant stood. He nodded to the man to begin.

The trembling man swiveled his head from the Doctor to Rose, eyes wide in shock. He was one of the few people in the room not in any way affiliated with Torchwood. He was not handling the sudden disappearance and reappearance of the bride very well. Rose put her hand on his arm reassuringly. "The quick version is fine."

Clearing his throat nervously, he began, "we are here today to celebrate the joining of these two remarkable people in marriage." The was a pause as he looked around at his audience in the beautiful garden. "Is it your intention, before these witnesses, to bind yourselves together in this life?"

Rose and the Doctor both nodded, not taking their eyes off of each other.

"Then, John Alistair N...Noble, do you take Rose Marion Tyler to be your w...wife?" He stammered.

"I do." The Doctor smiled at Rose.

"And you, Rose Marion Tyler," He swallowed hard, "do you take John Alistair Noble to be your husband?"

"I do," Rose replied with a giddy smile.

Seeing that the officiant was at a bit of a loss for his next lines, the Doctor tugged at his tie, slipping it loose from his collar. Taking Rose's hand in his again, he wrapped it around both of their hands, binding them together.

"Rose Tyler, with this vow, I give you my forever." He said, voice barely louder than a whisper.

"Doctor. You've always had mine." She pulled him in for a kiss with her free hand and the guests, silent until this point, erupted in cheers and applause.

\-----

Much later that night, after hours of dancing, chatting with guests, and many banana flavored cupcakes covered in edible ball bearings, the Doctor and Rose were able to finally make their escape. Rose gave him an abbreviated version of her kidnapping and return to Earth while one of the hire cars her father had arranged drove them to their hotel. She told him simply that she'd ran into their future selves on the planet and had gotten a ride back in the baby TARDIS. The Doctor was absolutely delighted to hear that their little girl would fly one day for sure. (And more than a little relieved that they wouldn't be spending their honeymoon tracking down some great universe-threatening calamity that ripped holes in the time-space continuum.)

She kept their children a secret though, rationalizing that telling him might endanger their future timelines, but really she just wanted to be able to surprise him with the news when the time came. Besides, they had few more years to left themselves if her guess regarding their future selves' ages was correct. Rose intended to enjoy them.

After retrieving their key cards from the smiling man at the front desk, they stumbled up the stairs to their room, both a little bit tipsy from the champagne at the reception and punch-drunk from the stress of the long day. Rose giggled as the Doctor attempted to lift her over the threshold before the heavy security door swung shut. He managed it, but only just, and promptly tripped over the suitcase he'd set inside the room before picking her up. Rather than the graceful romantic gesture he'd been aiming for, they ended up falling onto the bed together in a heap. It was a few minutes before either of them stopped laughing long enough to move.

The Doctor rolled over to lie on his back next to Rose, long legs dangling off the edge of the bed. She took his hand in hers and toyed with the metal band that now encircled his finger. Halfway through the reception she'd realised that they'd forgotten the rings; the Doctor had found them in his pocket and they'd exchanged them with mock solemnity before cutting the cake. At that point, both of them had had more than enough to drink to render any attempts at seriousness in the face of the absurdity of their wedding utterly useless. Even Jackie had given up her grumbling about the state of Rose's dress and 'bloody aliens' and was enjoying herself. It helped that she'd been drinking steadily since the ceremony ended and been distracted by the appearance of one or two late-arriving guests.

"This is going to take some getting used to. You're my husband now. How'd that end up happening?"

"Weeeeeeeeeeell..." he began with a cheeky grin. Rose poked him playfully. "Oi! I was just going to say that it happened because in addition to being brilliant and incredibly handsome," he dodged another jab, "I'm the luckiest bloke in the entire universe."

Rose looked over at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Lucky, eh?" She leaned over to kiss him. "What'd ya say you help me out of this dress, Doctor _Tyler_ , then we'll see how lucky you are?"

"Tyler?" He frowned. "I don't think that's how it works." The Doctor looked at Rose, hovering above him, one eyebrow raised, eyes glittering with mirth and love. "er... yeah it is." He reached up and pulled her down onto him, hands already searching for her elusive zipper.

And that was the last coherent thought either of them managed for a few hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this! Sharp-eyed readers will notice that it's part of a series, so if you want more I encourage you to check out the other fics. I tend to write more Fifth Doctor than Ten these days so Classic Who fans may find something on my works page for them too. 
> 
> Comments and kudos are always greatly appreciated! :)


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